Iowa Small Business Employers Post Gains

It’s been a month of good news for both Iowa employers and employees. To meet increased market demands, small business owners throughout the state hired additional workers.

Iowa small business employment grew .03 percent, according to a recent index report from Intuit.

“We’ve continued to see a strong need across all business sectors for top-quality individuals at all levels,” said Rod Hanssen, vice president of Premier Staffing in Hiawatha. “We really started to see an uptick in mid-2013 and that has only gone up in 2014.”

Small businesses—those with fewer than 20 employees—are critical to the nation’s economy. In fact, small businesses make up 87 percent of all U.S. employer firms and employ nearly 20 million people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Iowa ranked as 24th in the country for small employment growth. Based on the same report, Utah ranked first; Missouri finished last. The report covers August 24-September 23, 2014.

Across all states, the real estate, rental, and leasing industry realized the largest revenue increase, at 0.7 percent. Construction revenue was up by .4 percent. That’s quite a switch from the last recession, when real estate and construction took the hardest hit.

Based on her research for the Intuit index, Economist Susan Woodward is optimistic.

“Small business added 10,000 jobs this month after a flat previous month. We are continuing to see signs of a warming labor market,” she said.

National employment increased by 0.04 for the same period, while the national unemployment was listed as 5.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.